Topic: Ethernet woes

[Terry Brummell]

On Win 98 to see a machines own name in Network Neighbourhood you need to turn on file and print sharing, even if you don't setup a share.  
As far as the browser error it looks to me like you've setup your SME to be your DNS server, if it doesn't have internet access it's gonna have one helluva hard time looking up names for you.  Your DNS should be being provided to you via DHCP on your dialup link.

[Ed Form]

Rhys wrote:

> Persius runs a firewall, an antivirus and a dial-up modem.
> Other than that, they are pretty similar (aside from the fact
> Persius runs Win98 and Aphrodite runs NT4).

Software firewalls are disastrous while trying to get networks sorted out. Even when you think you've told it to leave the internal network alone it will still intercept stuff and block you. Turn your Zone alarm off completely until you get set up.

Ed Form

[Rhys]

Ok. I now have Persius showing up in Persius Network Neighbourhood.

Internet Explorer now doesn't seem to want to work at all. Every time I try to use it, I get told the site/page does not exist. Netscape, perversely, works as it did before (apart from certain sites that it really does a bad job of). I'm puzzled as to why one browser should work while another will not. This is, however, a Windows problem.

Regarding the firewall, when I have Zeus online, the firewall seems to crash on boot - the same as Norton AntiVirus.

Now, a question about SME. How good is SME's alleged firewall? How does one activate it; how does one open/close ports etc? If I put a PCI modem onto Zeus (my current modem is ISA), how could I ensure that it has hung up? My current ISA modem under Win 98 doesn't always hang-up although I think this is more to do with Windows being buggy than the modem itself.

Rhys

[Ray Mitchell]

Rhys
> Internet Explorer now doesn't seem to want to work at all.
> Every time I try to use it, I get told the site/page does not
> exist.

Have a look in IE Tools/Internet options/General and check what your home page setting is.
If you use the sme server to provide Internet access you also need to check your Lan settings (button) under the Connections tab. If you use sme server, you can just tick Automatically detect settings or you can set a proxy server although that appears to be no longer neccessary with recent releases.

> Regarding the firewall, when I have Zeus online, the firewall
> seems to crash on boot - the same as Norton AntiVirus.

I suggest you stop using the firewall on the Win98 computer, and switch over to access to the Internet via your now functioning sme server (with a modem connected to it).

> Now, a question about SME. How good is SME's alleged
> firewall? How does one activate it; how does one open/close
> ports etc?

Well its not an alleged firewall it IS a firewall.
See http://www.e-smith.org/docs/papers/smeserver-security.html#ongoing
for an indication of the approach Mitel take. Signifcant improvements haev been made to later versions ie v5.6.

All settings are made via server-manager, as you make changes or enable services etc the appropriate ports are opened etc etc. The firewall is functional immediately if you select gateway & server mode. The server manager is the GUI interface to control your sme server for just about all functions.
If you want more there are plenty of add on packages available that will add to the server manager panels.
Now you have networking access to your server just open a browser at http://zeus/server-manager or of course you can access a text based server manager directly on zeus server by logging on as admin and selecting server manager.

The beauty of sme is that you do not need a great level of technical knowledge to set up a server (in fact almost zero tech knowledge, the secretary could do most daily admin maintenance tasks).

Use the server manager first and then study what goes on behind the scenes as and when you become more competent and knowledgeable. Anything can be done using the command prompt but sme is designed to minimise if not do away with compeltely the need to use the command line for typical small office and business situations.

If I put a PCI modem onto Zeus (my current modem
> is ISA), how could I ensure that it has hung up?

You can also connect external serial modem and ADSL modems and cable modems. A second NIC will be needed to connect the server to an ADSL modem via Cat5 cable.

For dial up modem connections there are rpms available (at cost) that you can initiate a connection and terminate a connection, see link item 7. Dial Up Tools http://www.dungog.net/sme/products/index.php


By default when you access email or web the sme server will dial up and make a modem connection to your ISP, this will time out automatically after 10 or 20 minutes idle time depending on what type of access you last made ie email or web. You can set up custom templates to alter these times though.
 

If I were you I would really switch over to using the features of sme ands stop using your Win98 machine for Internet access etc. Trust what the sme does, the default settings are very safe, remember that Mitel supplies essentially the same product (albeit supported) directly to end users and they would not do that if it did not work securely and safely.

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[rhys]

Ok. Are there any modems that are suited to SME and are there any that are not suited. I'm looking at www.dabs.com for the cheapest 56k voice/fax/modem.

I tried what you said with IE. Strangely, setting the homepage from blank to yahoo and back to blank got IE working again. Microsoft is nothing if not bizarre!

Rhys

[Dave Liquorice]

> Are there any modems that are suited to SME and are there any that
> are not suited.

Those that aren't supported.  B-)  As you seem concerned about knowing if the modem has hung up ot not why not go for an external? You can then watch the blinking lights and  driver problems are much less likely to be an issue.

Might be worth a look on e-bay to see what external modems are about.

Cheers
Dave.

[rhys]

Hmm. I've come across a lot of rogues on e-bay.

Well, my latest progress is: I can see Zeus in Network Neighbourhood. I can't see Persius from Aphrodite or vice versa though.

I set up a user account and put my entire website on it and can view it from Aphrodite (it originated on Persius).

I'd like to be able to use Zeus to store several gigabytes of data from Persius but I'm not 100% sure how to use it as a file repository (or rather, the best method).

I managed to shut down Zeus from Aphrodite but didn't try (I should have) to access the server manager from Persius. Last time I tried, I remember Persius wanted to make a dial-up connection.

I can see there's a whole new approach to file, data and software handling to learn. I'm keen to start. Is there any book that's particularly recommended?

Thus far, I like it.

Rhys

[Del]

If I remember right Perius was your internet connection,if so open IE and choose "Tools' from the menu bar, then choose "Internet Options" then go to the "Connections" tab check "Never Dial a Connection" this will stop it asking for a dial up connection when you enter your address for the server-manager.Do you know how to map a network drive? If so log on as rhys and map your personal folder on the server (all sme users have one) and then you can transfer the data from Persius to this folder on SME through My Computer (or explorer). Have you enable "File and Printer Sharing" on both windows machines? Like a previous posting said you need to do this to see computers in network neighborhood.
Regards,
Del

[rhys]

Ah. Now this is getting interesting as well as useful

Now, a very interesting question:

Aphrodite has a tiny hard drive and so it's not a good idea to store much software on it. Suppose I wanted to install some on Zeus but to run it from Aphrodite. Is it possible to do a network install that's not going to upset Aphrodite when Aphrodite is asked to perform as a laptop, using non-network software. IE: I want to install Photo Editor onto Aphrodite but to leave the program on Zeus. If I do that and then take Aphrodite away from Zeus and use Aphrodite, is Aphrodite going to get her knickers in a twist because Zeus isn't present?

Just how would I do a network install of a program? What happens if I want to use the program from two different computers? Do I have to install twice? How about uninstalling?

Aphrodite has no CD unit because she's an elderly lady. Is it possible and how can I access the CD unit on Zeus to install software for Aphrodite?

Rhys

[Ray Mitchell]

Rhys
> Ok. Are there any modems that are suited to SME and are there
> any that are not suited.

Most standard modems will be OK but WinModems are NOT suitable (they utilise the chips in a Windows PC). You may care to look at the Red Hat Hardware Compatibility List at
http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/?pagename=hcl
I agree that an external modem may suit your requirements better so you can monitor the connection visually. Get a serial port type.

> Is there any book that's particularly recommended?

Yes, the Mitel sme admin and tech support manuals, which it seems like you still have not read and digested or you would know about setting up ibays to store files on ! The manuals are on the install CD in the documentation folder.

> Thus far, I like it.

AMAZING for someone (Rhys) who on the 30/3/03 said:
"My advice is - avoid SME Linux like the plague. It absolutely will not and cannot work. It's obviously a joke software release. Well, I don't find 15 hours of trying to get the thing installed and then cleaning up the mess it left behind all that funny. The sooner SME is withdrawn the better.
I hate Microsoft but I'm now going to do what I should have done in the first place - buy NT4 Server."


> Just how would I do a network install of a program? What
> happens if I want to use the program from two different
> computers? Do I have to install twice? How about uninstalling?

You need to create a ibay using server manager Information bays panel.
You will se that new ibay in Network Neighbourhood. Map the shared ibay to a drive letter and then instal software to that drive.
If you want to use the one common install of software on your mapped ibay, then you would instal twice, once from each workstation to the same drive letter location on your server.
Many programs should run OK that way, but some may have problems with multi users at the same time, depends on the program.
Uninstal will work OK the first time, but the second may crash, just do a reinstal on the second PC to be uninstalled and then do the uninstal.


> Is it possible and how can I access the CD unit on Zeus to install
> software for Aphrodite?

You will find a (free) rpm to share the cd drive at the dungog.net site
see this link for instructions
http://www.dungog.net/sme/howto/shared-drives.php

After installing the shared drives rpm you would them map the shared cd drive to a drive letter on your Windows PC, and viola you have access to the server cd drive.

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[rhys]

Interesting. Win 98 and NT4 both seem to think SME is NT 4.5. Obviously Microsoft didn't think Windows machines would be interacting with other O/Ss.

Well, I have my I-Bay set up and 2 gig of data copied over. That was interesting in itself. With a direct cable connection it took 45 minutes. I started with a hub but I was getting ludicrous time estimates and transfer rates such that it would have probably taken most of the day. Then I looked at my hub and discovered it's capable of only 10 Mbps. My cables can handle 100 Mbps. I might be somewhat tempted now to ditch the hub entirely and stick secondary NICs in. Looks like the struggles with the NIC and changeover from BNC were worthwhile. Having said that, I miss the simplicity of BNC.

Speaking of secondary NICs, does it matter if they're not all the same model? I have a Sitecom installed (which works under Tulip) a 3Com with a 3Com chipset and an unknown card with an rtl8029as chipset.

When I run the server from a browser (depending on the machine and my mood, that's either NT4 and Internet Explorer 2, Win 98 and IE 5.5 or Netscape 4.7), I can see everything I'd see on the admin console. But.. how would I get to root? I think it's something to do with ssh but I'm not sure. What's the best protocol for accessing root from the local network? I've setup my two machines with masks of FFFFFFFF so it's pretty secure.

The manual talks about webmail. I can see things in the menu relating to mail but is webmail enabled in the free version?

Having tried this server now, I'm getting quite interested in taking it further. Maybe as far as a 24.7 connection and my own I/P with my own mailing system etc.

Rhys

[Dave Liquorice]

> Then I looked at my hub and discovered it's capable of only 10 Mbps.

When you are out getting that external modem, treat youself to a small 100Mbps switch as well. 5 port jobbies are very cheap, note the use of the word "switch" rather than "hub". Hubs are pretty dumb, they send what ever comes in on one port out to all the others, a switch only sends to the correct destination port.

[del]

Hi Rhys,
Try Putty to access the server via ssh, it can be downloaded from here: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
As Dave said just get a 10/100 switched hub (again Genius sell them in the UK for about £35.00) this will allow you to use either 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps, you will need 10/100 or 100 Mbps NIC's in the PC's also.
Glad you finally got it working, welcome to the real networking world.
Hope this helps,
Del

[Per Smith]

Hi Rhys,

Your hub is not the only one limiting you to 10 MB/s.
Your BNC COMBO nic's are also only running at 10 MB/s, so you'll have to change them as well to get the entire network to run at 100 MB/s.

As for the secondary nic, it doesn't matter if it's from a different vendor. It may even be an advantage, because it will then be easier to tell the two nic' apart.

The webmail needs to be enabled in one of the email-pages in the webadmin. (I don't remember the exact one at the moment)

Best regards
Per Smith

[del]

Hi Rhys,
Enable webmail in server-manager under "Configuration" "Other email settings"
Cheers,
Del